You are here
Report on access in the Middle East
Transcript
20 October 2013
Roberta: Media Access CEO, Alex Varley, has just recently visited the Middle East and more specifically Mada in Qatar. Mada is a not-for-profit organisation that works on accessibility for people with disabilities. Alex also attended a number of events including a special seminar aimed at people who are blind and he’s here right now to tell us about his experiences. Welcome, Alex.
Alex: Hi there, Roberta.
Roberta: Now, can you tell us about what work Mada does and why it’s based in Qatar?
Alex: Yes, Mada is a very interesting organisation. Probably the best way to describe it is it’s like a cross between, say, Vision Australia and Media Access Australia in that it does some service provision and it runs some accessibility equipment programs but it also does access to information, access to media and a bit of advocacy work as well. Of course, the big question is why is it based in Qatar of all places and people might not actually realise that Qatar now has the highest per head income in the world. So it’s a fairly rich place for the population and one of the ambitions of that country is to become the sort of information technology hub of the Middle East and they see access for people with disabilities to information and technology as part of that brief. So that’s why it’s there.
Roberta: You attended some blind events, Alex. What were the issues and experiences of blind people in Qatar around accessibility?
Alex: Well, the interesting thing, Roberta, is that although there are some very obvious cultural differences Qatar is a fairly conservative Muslim country but when I went to that blind event at the Blind Social Club I just came across what I come across anywhere in the world with blind people. So there are passions, there are frustrations and there are people looking for solutions. To give you a really simple example with the launch of Apple’s new operating system, iOS 7, one of the great frustration the Qataris had was that the new Arabic voice that’s used on Siri and other functions in there was not as clear and as good as the previous one. So they went complaining to Apple about that and, of course, it also cost them six dollars to buy the thing, so they weren’t too happy about that either. Their technology doesn’t necessarily work very well and the fact they’re trying to deal with the Arabic language means there’s far less options. So it’s the same old story the world over.
Roberta: How does the Middle East differ from the Australian experience?
Alex: Probably the biggest difference is the fact that they’re dealing with the Arabic language rather than English. Us English speakers are incredibly lucky when it comes to technology access and related things because there’s some much stuff in terms of software and equipment and other things that are developed for us. So to give you a very simple example, a lot of blind people in Qatar use Twitter. Twitter itself will display Arabic alphabet characters and screen readers will read them out properly but all the menus and everything for Twitter are still in English. So they have to learn those English things just to access that. Also, the software they’re trying to use, so with screen readers and other things like that, it’s not as developed because it’s all in Arabic. So I’d say the fundamental issue is that and then the other one, I’d say, is that most of the nations in the Middle East are actually absolute monarchies. So they don’t have a system of government that’s similar to us, so it makes the advocacy process a lot less transparent and more difficult. They really need to influence somebody who’s in charge to get these issues through, so some pretty big differences there.
Roberta: So what does Mada see as the next big priority?
Alex: Well, it’s interesting. They’ve been running for three years now and they came very much from an accessible technology background, so looking at things like screen readers and other devices for people with disabilities. Where they haven’t really done very much work, which is one of the reasons why I was visiting them, is in the area of access to media, so things like DVDs, cinema and of course television. Something that is hopeful for them there is a lot of them actually do access that stuff in English. So we can actually start doing some collaborative work with them on that but media access is desperately wanted and needed there, just like here.
Roberta: Are there ways Australian blind organisations can work with Middle Eastern organisations?
Alex: Most definitely, Roberta. I would say the starting point is obviously international organisations like the World Blind Union. I think the way you can work with them is to actually collaborate on all these different issues. So they are lobbying the Apples and the Microsofts and the IBMs and the other technology producers of the world, just like Australian audiences are. I think when you realise that the only difference really is language but the issues are the same there’s so much you can focus on there. To give you a very simple example, with that one about the iOS 7 Arabic voice not really working properly, they found out that the Danish people had exactly the same problem. So they actually joined with them and did a joint lobbying to Apple and I believe they actually got some results for both countries, so a simple example but it shows how people from all around the world can collaborate and sort these things out.
Roberta: I’ve been chatting with Alex Varley, the CEO of Media Access Australia. To find out all about accessible media and where to find it you go to their website, www.mediaaccess.org.au, or call 02 9212 6242. Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.